Improvement in perforators for automatic telegraphy



e. L. ANDERS. PERFORATORS FOR AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY.

Patented Aug.22,1876-.

[Fave/05021 71 56 05 as ea.

ivITED STATES GEORGE L. ANDERS,

PATENT. OFFICE.

OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR T0 E. BAKER WELOH, OF

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT -|N PERF OR ATORS FOR AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. ls bfl39edated August 22, 1816 application filed June 15, 187.6. I

I"o all whom it may concern: I

'Be it known that I, GEORGE LEE ANDERS, of Boston, in thecounty ,of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful improvement in Machines for Perforating Paper Strips for Use in the Automatic Transmission of "Telegraphic Messages, .of which the following is-a full, clear, and-exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had tov the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to a simple, cheap, and efiective perforatingmachine, to cheaper.-

ated either solely by mechanical means, or by device consisting of a lever-oscillating at its center-upon-the-upper endof the punch; a ro- -@tatingcam bearing upon one end of the lever, and mounted upon a shaft having acontinuous rotation derived from anysnitable power aw-movable stop forarresting the movement of the other end of the lever, so as .to stop its oscillatory motion,.and cause the punch to be operated by the action of the cam; and adevice for-moving the stop, with suitable mechanism operated by the same power that roftates the cam, and moving simultaneously with it, for feeding the paper strip or strips perforated by. the punch or punches continuously, andat a uniform rate. It alsoconsists ina-device attached to the feeding mechan- Eism, which arrests the action of the same after a certain length of unperforated paper has been .fed, and thereby prevents waste of:

paper. 1

Y a front view of the machine inelevatiomsho-wing the punch, vcam, lever, stop, and feeding mechanism. Rig. 2 is a plan view of the ma chine; and Fig. 3 is a view of the machine in elevation, showing the stop and end of the lever in the position that .theyhave relatively to each other when the endof the latter is free to move. L .In these figures thesam-e letters refer to similar parts. A is the base-plate .of the machine, upon which are mounted two upright plates .of metal or other suitable material, B B, parallel to each other, which form the frame for supporting and-affordingbearings'to the workingparts of the machine. 0 is a punch of the form usually .used inperforating-machines for tele; graphic, purposes, and has .an upand-down motion in the guide D, which is attached to the plate B by a clamp, E, or in .any other suitable manner. The-upperend of this punch isencircled by aspiral spring, F, one end of which bearsagainst a, shoulder on the punch, and the other end rests upon the top .of the guide. The object of thisspring iatheretraction ofthe punch after the perforation is made, and any other suitable arrangement which Will effect this result may be used. G is a lever, pivoted at its center to the punch,.atright angles to the same. To 'one end, a, is :at; tached a flat spring, M, secured to a fixed point, N, on the frame B, which spring aetsto throw up the opposite end b of the lever 1}, so that it will bear against the cam Iinevery position of the same. This cam is situated justabove the end vb of the lever G, and is mounted upon a shaft, K, having itsbearings .in the plates B B, which shaft is rotatedcoutinuously by anysuitable power-as, for instance, a treadle mechanism; and when the shaft rotates, the cam {operates to depress the endbof the lever G inopposition to theforce of the spring M on theother end of the lever, and for the reason thatthespiral spring F is stronger than the spring Mthe lever oscillates on its pivot Has-a fulcrum, without moving the punch G. If, however, thefree .end gt of the lever G be prevented from completing ,its

full upward movement, caused by the action of t e. m vI 0 .t .-Qther, n ..b of thelevenhy the interposition of a suitable stop the pressure of the cam will overcome the resistance of the spiral spring F, the fulcrum of the lever will be changed to the end a, and the punch will be depressed in correspondence to the action of the cam on the end I) of the lever, and

a small round disk will be cut from the paper lation to the period of thisrotation that if the detaining-stop is allowed to arrest the oscillatory movement of the lever long enough to permit the cam to cause the action of the punch more than once,the successive perforations will overlap, and an elongated perforation will be made in the paper strip, the length of which will be determined by the time during which the stop arrests the movement of the free end a of thelever.

When the strip is used for telegraphing in the well-known automatic system, the short perforations give dots, and the long perforations dashes, and therefore, if suitable means are provided, under the control of an operator, for moving the stop so that it can be made to engage withthe lever for a shorter or longer time, at will, and, by arresting the oscillation of the. same, cause perforations of correspondinglength inthe paper strip, the latter can readily be perforated for the transmission of any desired series of telegraphic characters.

Any suitable means may be used for moving thestop so as to cause its interposition, as explained, as it will be obvious to the mechanician that there are various ways of accomplishing this result. A simple and effective method that I have devised forthis purpose is shown in the accompanying drawings, and will now be described. It consists in the use of an electro-magnet, (shown at B, Fig. 2,) having its armature P attached to the rock-shaft L, mounted in suitable hearings in the frame.

B B, and having attached thereto, on the outside of the plate B, an arm, 0, which extends to the end a of the lever G, and is of such a length that when the rockshaft is moved by the movement of the armature the end of the arm will engage with the end of the lever G, as show-n in Fig. 1, and the movement of the latter will be prevented, so that the punch will be operated by the action of the cam, as before explained. In the drawing the arm is shown as moved from its normal position, to engage with the lever, by closing the circuit through the magnet; but the latter might be so placed that the same result would be effected by opening the circuit.

The parts are so arranged that, when the cam isrotating, the slightest movement of the arm arrests the oscillatory movement of the lever, and causes the operation of the punch,

the movement of the latter being simultaneous with the-movement of the armature, and, therefore, if a telegraph-key be placed in the circuit through the magnet, a perforated strip for the transmission of any desiredmessage can be rapidly prepared by manipulating the key in the ordinary manner of transmitting the Morse character.

It is obvious that this key may be located at any point on the circuit near or at a distance from the instrument, and also that the magnet can be used to receive messages from a distant station, which messages will be recorded in perforations upon the paper strip.

In the accompanying drawings but one punch and one strip of paperare shown. Several punches similar to that. described may be arranged side by side, all of which can be operated by the same power, by extending the cam-shaft so that it will bear upon the endslof Each lever will have its own arrestingarm, and magnet for operating the same, and each punch its correspondingstrip all the levers.

of paper; but all the strips will be fed simul taneonsly, and by the same power that rotates the cam-shaft. A device for arrestingthe feed .11;

of any strip will be provided.

' Several stations may be. connected withone I machine, each station having its corresponding punch, strip, and magnet, and the1 messages receivedfrom each station will be perfoy ically perforated upon stripe at the main of? fice, and from thence rapidly transmitted to the distant station by the automatic system; I also propose to use, in connection with the electro-magnet controlling the action cof the punch, a device operated by a key-boardrar-flf rangement, which will automatically transmit 3 the proper sequence of short and long currents necessary for perforating any charact'erofthe telegraphic alphabet, thus enabling the machine to be operated by-any person. i

The movement of the stop for causing. the action of the punchifora longeryor shorter time maybe effected by mechanism operated by a key-board arrangement without the.aid of electricity; and an apparatus of thisdescription which I have devised will be described in another application. I

The feeding. mechanism is constructedas follows: X is a shaft, properly supported in the frame B B, parallel to the shaft K.. Upon this shaft isa wheel, Y, which is connect ed by a band to the shaft K, so that it rotates with the latter; but, as the wheelY has a great or diameter than the shaft K, the shaftXrotates more slowly. The other end of the shaft X projects through the plate B, and against this end bears a spring, W, which is attached to the plate B at the point Z. The paper strip passes between this spring and theend of the shaft, and is turned continuously and at a uniform rateby the friction ,ofthe shaft... S

is the strip, which is led under the punch over a suitable die-plate, and is kept in position by the presser-plate T.

A device is provided for the purpose of arresting the feed of the paper strip after a certain length has been fed unperforated. This 7 on interrupting the action of the perforator,

an arm, 0, on the rock-shaft L engages with the projection on the collar, so that the latter is held, and when the -pin upon the shaft strikes against the pin h the rotation of the shaft is stopped and the feed of the paper strip interrupted.

By means of the spiral spring the shaft is allowed to make at least one rotation after the circuit is opened, and the arm 0 thrown into the path of the projection g, which insures the. 7 paper being fed a sufficient time after the perforator has ceased acting to give the necessary spaces between the perforations.

I am aware that the combination in telegraph perforating-machines of a punch, a continuously-acting power for operating the same, and a device, under the control of an operator, for causing the power to operate the punch at will, is not new, as such a combination is shown in the patent to Alexander Bain, No. 43,618, July 19, 1864, and I therefore do not claim that combination, broadly; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, 1s-

1. The combination, with one or more punches, of a continuously-rotatin g cam, or its equivalent, an oscillating lever, G, attached to each punch, springs F M, acting on each lever, a

movable stop, which arrests the oscillation of the lever and causes the operation of the punch, and a device for moving the stop, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with the oscillating lever and movable detaining-stop, as described, an electro-magnet for moving the stop, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In combination with the oscillating lever G, the arm 0, rock-shaft L, armature P, and electro-magnet R, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination with the punching m'echanism, as described, and the continuously-acting power operating the same, mechanism operated, as described, from the power that operates the punch, and simultaneously with it, for feeding the paper strip at such a rate relatively to the period of rotation of the camshaft that a prolonged operation of the punch will produce an elongated perforation in the paper strip, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. 4

5. The combination of the shaft X, collar 0, having on it the projection g, and attached to the shaft by the spiral spring d, pin it on the collar, pin upon the shaft, arm 0, and rock-shaft L, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

- enonen LEE ANDERS.

Witnesses ALEX. L. HAYES, CLARENOE V. LUcE. 

